Clarifying “Faith-Learning Integration”: Essentially Contested Concepts and the Concept-Conception Distinction

Abstract

THE LANGUAGE OF “faith-learning integration” remains popular among evangelical educators in both K-12 and higher education. Some observers suggest for theological and educational reasons that Christan educators replace integration language with other language. Even its advocates do not agree on what would count as integration. This article suggests that both the concept-conception distinction and W. B. Gallie's category of an essentially contested concept shed light on the phrase. If faith-learning integration is an essentially contested concept, or is a concept subject to conception-building, then Christian educators may never agree on what counts as a paradigm case.